[Travel Bits] Festivals, sights across Korea

Hadong Tea Festival

The 24th Hadong Tea Festival will be held online from May 15 to 23.

The organizers of the festival discussed canceling the annual event due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they decided to hold the festival to promote the 2022 Handong World Tea Expo.

To prevent spread of the virus, this year‘s festival will mainly feature contactless online programs with limited offline activities held across Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province.

To help tea plantations which experienced difficulties with the festival’s cancellation last year, this year‘s festival will feature Hadong tea leaves in several e-commerce events in a bid to introduce the tea vendors to a new retail market.

Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival

The Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival will be held online from April 1 to 16.

The festival celebrates the legendary scholar Wang In from the Baekje Kingdom (18 B.C.-A.D. 668). As an envoy to Japan, it is said that Wang introduced the Chinese writing system to the Japanese.

Online lectures, quizzes and trot music shows will take place as part of the festival.

Head to the website at wanginfesta.com for more information.

Okcheon Seedling Festival

The Okcheon Seedling Festival is being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Okcheon, South Chungcheong Province, is a county famous for farming fruit tree seedlings. It supplies 70 percent of the seedlings retailed across Korea.

Individual farms in Okcheon are selling seedlings online during the festival period. Customers can receive a 20 percent discount, up to 500,000 won, when they purchase seedlings with gift certificates.

The festival continues until April 5.

For more information, check out the Okcheon County website at www.oc.go.kr/tree/index.do. 

Jochiwon Spring Flower Festival

The Jochiwon Spring Flower Festival, usually a three-day event, will run from April 1 to 11 this year.

The annual spring festival went online last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, it will be held both online and offline.

Though last year’s festival was concentrated near Jochiwon Station and along the stream Jocheon, it has been expanded to Sejong as well this year to prevent overcrowding at the festival site.

Jeju Canola Flower Festival

Welcoming spring, the Jeju Canola Flower Festival will open on April 9.

During the festival, canola flowers are expected to be in bloom across the Pyoseon area of Seogwipo on Jeju Island, covering a 95,000-square-meter space with a yellow hue. The canola flowers, which represent spring on the southern island, start to bloom at the end of winter. Details for the festival have not yet been announced.